Prison board to Kansas governor: Don't pardon sex-trafficked teen

A Kansas woman who was sexually trafficked as a minor and convicted of felony sex crimes shouldn’t receive a pardon from Gov. Laura Kelly, a panel says.

The Kansas Prisoner Review Board recently considered the case of Hope Zeferjohn, who was 16 years old when she ran away from state custody and her boyfriend forced her into his sex trafficking operation. Using the threat of violence, he made her recruit other girls, which became the basis for her conviction.

Now 21, she is serving a six-year term at the Topeka Correctional Facility and will spend a lifetime on the sex offender registry unless the governor grants the pardon she requested.

Zeferjohn was charged as an adult in June 2016 with 10 felonies, including aggravated human trafficking, when she was 17. Federal and state laws bar prosecuting children for prostitution, but Zeferjohn accepted a plea agreement to avoid the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence.